You may recall that around this time last year I attended my first ever hats tournament, Hats Hops & Hucks 19. I had quite a bit of fun and my team ended up winning, and so when I heard that #20 was coming up I was actually kind of hesitant. After winning the previous year, I kind of felt like anything short of another all-out win would feel like kind of a let-down. However, I remembered that I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and it turned out that a bunch of my friends were going (far more than last year) and thus there was a very good chance I'd have at least one person I already knew on my team.
With that in my, I threw my doubts to the wind (or something like that) and registered, and a week before the tournament found out the pun-filled, food-related team I was on was called "Bids in a Blanket" and that I had not just one, but two people I knew on my team.
The first day started out well. Based off the introductions we had almost all experienced players, most of whom had played in college, and were all quite friendly and excited. The first game we started a little rocky, as you'd expect with a group playing together for the first time, but quickly smoothed out and won with a deciding victory. The second game went equally well, and I found myself becoming a bit more confident that maybe I was on another winning team. The third game was noticeably more difficult, and we hit the time limit, and ended up winning after being barely ahead the entire time. The fourth game was the most difficult, and kept going back-and-forth in terms of who was ahead, before we narrowly pulled out a win after going into the equivalent of over-time. With out 4-0 record we were first in our pool, and only one of the other two pools had an undefeated team, and after determining the points differentials it turned out we were 1st place overall by a measly two points.
At the time, this seemed great, because that meant we got a bye during the next day's qualifiers and went straight into the quarter-finals, where we'd face the winner of the 8th seed vs. the 9th seed match from the qualifiers. That meant getting to sleep in, and being well-rested for our first match of the day. However, what this ended up meaning was that while we were rested, the other team was warmed-up. Our first game Sunday started disastrously, as they quickly scored 5 points with us retuning none. For the rest of the game we tailed, although eventually we got back into form and brought it back in a serious way, eventually getting the game to 12-13 them. However, they managed to score the final point and win, much to my disappointment. My dreams of a second championship were gone ;_;.
With that said, I still had fun. The games were challenging and enjoyable, and although I had a few messy moments, overall I think I was on good form and had a couple enjoyable moments, as well as some grass-burns to prove it. My team overall meshed well and played intelligently, although there were numerous points where we kept making bad decisions and I felt frustrated to point them out, only to have them not resolved. Nonetheless, the good mostly overshadowed the bad, at least in terms of being on the field. Off the field was another matter entirely, unfortunately. The one thing I had forgotten (since I went to sleep early last year on account of a horrible sun-induced headache) was the partying, and reminded me of why I ceased going to college parties after freshman year. Unfortunately, unlike school, I had no dorm to retreat to, and had to make due with the noise and commotion. If I hadn't been completely exhausted by the day's playing, I probably would not have been able to fall asleep (I think I went to bed around 1:30, and apparently it was noisy till around 4), but thankfully my tiredness won out over the cacophony of the drunkards.
The other thing that I kind of realized while playing this weekend is that I think I would actually enjoy coaching an Ultimate team in the future. I did coach one year in high school, but that was slightly weird because I didn't really have any "authority" being the same age as every one else, roughly. Similarly this weekend, because of the hat tournament style everyone is kind of equal (which totally makes sense) but that meant my opinions and thoughts carried as much weight as everyone else, so I felt my advice was not always heeded (this probably sounds way more egotistical than it means). What I feel now though is after 7 years of playing my understanding of the game and its tactics is sometimes better than my ability to play the game, and I really enjoy watching from the sideline and analyzing it. I could see myself really enjoying coaching, for instance, a high school team in 5-10 years from now or whatever. I bring this up because I always figured dads and similar people coached for various reasons, but I never quite understood it, and I kind of can now.
Overall it was still an enjoyable experience. If the same amount of friends do it again next year, I'd probably do it again, but otherwise I think the draw is not quite enough, especially considering the cost. I really wish there was a more consistent league in my area, but sadly that is not the case, so I'll have to make due with my weekly games.
-HTMC
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